San Francisco: Call for Climate Justice at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum; Nov. 11-18

cross-posted from Bay Climate Action at APEC

pic via the Stranger in Seattle. July 2023

Organize with and join us and in the streets during the APEC summit in SF Nov. 11-18.

This November in San Francisco, the United States and thirteen other countries plan to announce the conclusion of large parts of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) trade agreement at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC).

Pledge to Resist APEC: https://bit.ly/ResistAPEC

IPEF will have major impacts on climate policy, worker rights and more for decades to come. The people have been completely shut out of these discussions, while corporate CEO’s and lobbyists are keynoting panels with world leaders at APEC. IPEF will do nothing to address the climate catastrophe we are facing and will do nothing to promote an economy that doesn’t rely on extraction. APEC leaders are not taking the climate crisis seriously, and are instead promoting policies that greenwash and hide devastatingly irresponsible backdoor deals with multinational corporations.

In an act of global solidarity, we are seeking to challenge and dismantle the status quo of corporations and all-too-often unaccountable neoliberal leaders of major countries signing trade and environmental pacts that put profit over people and fuel the climate crisis.

If you want to join us please Pledge to Resist APEC via this form. 

We are inviting labor, diaspora, frontline communities and climate justice activists to help plan, organize around and demand the following:

  1. End Climate Pollution. The United States must reverse its disproportionate role in creating the climate crisis, by no longer propping up the fossil fuel industry, rapidly zeroing out greenhouse gas emissions and helping other countries do the same.
  2. Globalize Climate Justice. The United States and all members of APEC must commit to climate justice for communities of color and take action to end the disproportionate impact climate change has on frontline communities and communities of color in their own nations and globally.
  3. Stop Trade Attacks on Climate Action. The United States and all members of APEC must end corporate-driven trade agreements that greenwash, weaken and delay the transition to a just and clean economy, and must commit to a Climate Peace Clause immediately ending trade attacks on climate action.

To add yourself or an organization to these demands, and to learn more about upcoming actions and ways to plug in, please go to https://www.bayclimateaction.com.

Initial Endorsers: Oil and Gas Action Network, Mt. Diablo Rising Tide, Extinction Rebellion SF Bay, California Trade Justice Coalition, Friends of the Earth, Youth vs Apocalypse, Rising Tide North America, ASATA, Brown and Green, 350 Silicon Valley, 350 San Diego, EHL, Trade Justice Education Fund, Alliance for Democracy, Yes!, Thai Community Development Center

Dozens of climate groups prepare to protest international timber conference in Portland

cross-posted from the Oregon Capitol Chronicle

Dozens of climate groups prepare to protest international timber conference in Portland

The planned action – and a counter conference – mark a first for the industry conference

By: – September 26, 2023 6:30 pm

An annual conference of international timber industry leaders will focus this week in Portland on the ownership and development of Northwest forests while protestors gather and hold their own conference on preserving them.

The industry conference, on Wednesday and Thursday, will feature panels on investments in private forests, with participants discussing everything from investments by international banks, timber companies and trusts to the future of private forest ownership and global markets for Northwest timber and wood products. It’s hosted by the 50-year-old nonprofit World Forestry Center in southwest Portland.

The conference has been held every year for more than two decades but this year, for the first time, it will face protests by more than two dozen environmental groups who oppose the corporate ownership and management of Oregon forests and what they say is the industry’s disproportionate contribution to global climate change. Environmentalists have planned a demonstration outside the World Forestry Center at noon on Wednesday, organized by the Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance, which includes dozens of regional nonprofits such as Oregon Wild in Portland, Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands and the Oregon chapter of the Sierra Club.

Alex Budd, an organizer for the alliance, said he’s expecting up to 200 people at the protest.

“Our forests can be a vital solution to the climate crisis right now,” Budd said. “We have a choice between how our forests are going to be managed, and whether they’re going to be managed to generate more shareholder profit for these Wall Street companies, or for the health and well being of our communities and the planet.”

Tyler Quinn, communications director for the World Forestry Center, declined an interview request via email but offered a statement about the planned protest.

“We envision a society that values and takes action to support forests’ economic, ecological and social benefits,” he said. “Our work is focused on welcoming more voices into the forestry conversation, and we support everyone’s right to express their opinion in public spaces, so long as they do so in a safe manner.”

Trees versus timber

The conference is sponsored by some of the largest timber and real estate holding companies in the world, including Weyerhaeuser, and will be attended by officials from large banks such as J.P Morgan as well as international conservation and land trust groups, such as The Nature Conservancy and Pacific Forest Trust.

On the agenda are discussions about growing interest from global investors in Northwest forests and the burgeoning international markets for wood products. Panels will also discuss the growing domestic and international markets for wood by-products that can be used to make biofuels. And they’ll cover the increased use of Northwest forests by fossil fuel and other companies to offset their greenhouse gas emissions levels.

Ben Jones, a spokesperson for the climate organization Seattle 350, part of the forest alliance, said carbon offset use appears to show that the industry is conservation-minded while extracting profits from forests.

“When it’s the same timber companies that are touting that they’re doing stuff with green energy or clean energy — with carbon offsets, with biomass — those are false solutions,” Jones said. “Those are not doing anything about the real problem, which is the continued destruction of ecosystems. We think that forests themselves have intrinsic value, and all of the goals of a clean energy transition involve having intact native and mature forests.”

According to a study published by researchers at Oregon State University and the University of Idaho in 2018, Oregon’s Coast Range forests are among the best in the world at absorbing and storing carbon, including up to 70% of the state’s overall carbon emissions between 2011 and 2015. The $7 billion per-year wood products industry, on the other hand, is the largest contributor to the state’s overall carbon emissions, the study found.

The industry generates more emissions than transportation or electricity and energy generation in the state, according to a 2017 report from the state Global Warming Commission. This is due to emissions from logging equipment, timber transport, milling and the carbon dioxide released from cut and decomposing trees.

Counter conference

The forest climate alliance will hold a counter conference on Thursday in Portland, two miles from the World Forestry Center at the First Unitarian Church of Portland called “Forests Over Profits.” There, according to Budd, experts will discuss sustainable forest management and indigenous forest and ecosystem management and preservation.

Among the speakers will be Thomas Joseph, of the Indigenous Environmental Network, who will discuss issues with selling portions of private Northwest forests for carbon offsets and the global market for carbon credits.

He called the market a scam, saying there’s little oversight and accountability, and that offsets do nothing to stop companies from emitting greenhouse gases.

“It’s a way to allow investors to put a price tag on our Mother Earth, to continue to commodify her,” he said. “We need to reduce emissions at the source, which means keeping fossil fuels in the ground and not thinking of market mechanisms or schemes for how we can just continue to capitalize on our forests.”

San Pablo, CA: March to Stop Cop Campus. From Atlanta to the Bay Stop Police Militarization in our Communities

cross-posted from Stop Cop Campus

WHAT: March Against Cop Campus! From Atlanta to the Bay Stop Police Militarization in our Communities
WHEN: Saturday Sep 30 at 3pm
WHERE: Kennedy Plaza in San Pablo (23rd St & Brookside Dr)

The City of San Pablo plans to build a $43 million police training center and shooting range for cops around the Bay Area. The people of San Pablo and the Bay Area oppose this expansion of police power because of cops long history of harassing, abusing, incarcerating, and killing Black and Brown people.

Show up and march with us against the construction. We need healthy communities not police! Together we can stop Cop Campus!
—————————————————
¡Marcha en contra el Campus Policial!
¡De Atlanta a él Bay!
¡Detengamos la militarización policial en nuestras comunidades!
Sábado 30 de Septiembre a las 3pm
Kennedy Plaza en San Pablo (23rd St & Brookside Dr)

La ciudad de San Pablo planea construir un centro de entrenamiento y un campo de tiro para la policía en el Bay Área de 43 millones de dólares.

La gente de San Pablo y el Bay Área se oponen a esta expansión del poder policíaco debido a la larga historia de acoso, abuso, encarcelamiento y asesinato de personas negras y racializadas por parte de la policía.

¡Ven y marcha con nosotrxs en contra de esta construcción!

Necesitamos comunidades sanas, no a policías.

¡Juntxs podemos parar el Campus Policial!

After Three Day Blockade on Poor Mountain, Pipeline Fighter Finally Extracted

cross-posted from Appalachians Against Pipelines

Early on September 16th, Bramble locked herself to a sleeping dragon buried on so-called Poor Mountain to block construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The next day, she had this to say:

“It’s day 2 of the Sleeping Dragon action on Poor Mountain!! I woke up to a beautiful sunrise and blankets of clouds in the valley. I got to see birds soaring at eye level and feel the moisture in the air that makes Appalachia so vibrant. Workers came by my spot today and took away my supplies, hoping that I would leave. In the end though, they can’t take away the view I have from up here. I can see so much of what we are up against. I can see the pipeline easement for miles, their machines that destroy the forest, and Western Virginia Regional jail where Wren and Acre were held for months after they were extracted from the Yellow Finch treesits, along with so many others who are unjustly incarcerated. The mountains and wild forest surrounding all that evil is so much bigger, and it’s untamed. Yesterday, a security guard accused me of choosing the most treacherous part of the pipeline route to block. He’s right, it is steep up here. The mountains themselves have been a crucial part of the resistance to the MVP. Construction struggles with the steep slopes and waterways. MVP left the most difficult spots along the route for last, and that is a mistake that is going to cost them as the resistance continues into the fall.”

The three day blockade was located in Roanoke County on Yesan land. Poor Mountain is one of the steepest stretches of the MVP easement, and one of the last remaining areas of the pipeline’s path where downed trees have not been cleared.

After preventing Mountain Valley Pipeline work on a section of Poor Mountain for THREE DAYS (incredible!!!!!!!!), Bramble was extracted from her blockade and arrested. She was charged with 4 misdemeanors and was being held at the Roanoke County jail without bail.